• Shopping in China — Things to Buy and How to Buy Them

• Buying Gifts for Your Lady in China

• Chinese Gift Ideas for Children

• Buying Men's Gifts

• Top 10 Souvenirs

• Buying Traditional Chinese Clothes in China

• Famous Shopping Streets in China

Most travelers want to take home some bargains or mementos. With so many options available, shopping can be time consuming, confusing, and exhausting. The following tips may make it easier for you.

Don't buy everything in the first day or two. Each city has its own specialty. Some of the best buys are:

• Beijing: cloisonné; fresh water pearls

• Shanghai: silk carpets, qipaos

• Hangzhou: Longjing tea, silk

• Suzhou: silk

• Guilin: scroll paintings, South China Sea pearls

• Tibet: thangka (tanka: sheep skin wall hangings)

• Xi'an: replicas of the Terracotta Warriors, Tang Dynasty hand painted china, antique furniture

• Yunnan: mounted butterflies, Pu'er tea; Dali batik (tie-dyed fabric)

• Xinjiang: carpets, jade articles (for which please see our warnings below), dried fruit

• Guangzhou: wholesale markets for clothes, shoes, toys, electronic products and more.

What Is Worth Buying in China (Instead of Back Home)

The Top 10 Souvenirs for a First-Time Traveller to China

• 1. Art — papercuttings, paintings, photos, postcards. scrolls, finger/knuckle paintings

• 2. Rice writing — your name on a grain of rice

• 3. Painted snuff bottles

• 4. Fans

• 5. Pretty umbrellas for rain or sun.

• 6. Mahjong tile set

• 7. Panda paraphernalia

• 8. Silk — nighties, material/embroidery

• 9. Anything from 10 Yuan Land or 33 Yuan Land in Beijing or Shanghai, i.e. Chinese games or other bargains

• 10. Teas

See our article for a more detailed top 10 souvenirs list.

Glasses and Contacts

Glasses and contacts are much cheaper in China, so it can be worth stocking up while here, especially if you like to have a bunch of different stylish glasses designs. Glasses at opticians throughout the city tend to be of decent quality, but do not expect the brands to be real. A pair of (non-branded) glasses will set you back between 200 and 400 yuan depending on quality, lens strength, and your bargaining skills. In Beijing, there is a special glasses market near Panjiayuan antiques market. The biggest one in Shanghai is located near the railway station.

• Beijing Glasses City, 43 Huawei Beili, Panjiayuan, Dongsanhuan Nanlu, Chaoyang District, Beijing

• Shanghai 3 Ye Optical Glasses Market, Shanghai Train Plaza South Square, 4-5F, 360 Meiyuan Lu, Zhabei District, Shanghai

• Buying

Accessories and Jewellery

China is the perfect place to pick up accessories and jewellery, and there is absolutely no shortage of places to do so. Most markets and tourist attractions will have shops selling everything from bracelets and necklaces to rings and jade accessories and jewellery. It is very important to remember that most trinkets picked up in tourist markets or at tourist sights will not be real silver or jade, and the quality will not be incredibly high. However, if you bargain hard it'll be worth it.

Tailoring and Clothes

Tailors and clothes are extremely cheap in China, but make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. Only get clothes made if you know what fabric you want, and have either an example of what you want copied, or have a solid idea in your head that you can draw out. If you want silk clothes, check out this article first on how to tell if silk is good quality. Many people choose to have their prom dress, or a ball gown, made while in China because it is so much cheaper than having a dress tailor-made at home. This is an especially good souvenir if you go for a Chinese-style qipao dress. Let us know if you want to have something tailored and we can help arrange this for you.

• Where to Buy or Tailor Make a Elegant Qipao in Shanghai

• Top Places to Buy or Tailor Make Your Qipao in Beijing

• Buying Qibao in China - All You Need to Know

Leather Goods

Leather goods can also be good value in China. Many of the markets sell leather bags and belts at prices much cheaper than back home. For leather hand bags, bought at a market stall, expect to pay between 200-500 yuan, and belts go for between 100 and 200. To check whether or not the leather is real, many vendors will instantly use a lighter to demonstrate how their bags,wallets, and belts do not melt when exposed to the flame. Make sure that you get that specific bag, and not a new one pre-packaged that may be of a different quality. Also check all zippers to make sure they work. In Beijing and Shanghai, the big markets will have plenty of products to choose from. In Guangzhou, try Sanyuanli Leather market,

• Beijing Silk Street Market

• Shanghai's Shopping

• Guangzhou 78 Sanyuanli Dadao, Baiyun District, Guangzhou

Shopping Is Not Obligatory

Don't feel obligated to shop. Our guides offer shopping opportunities as a courtesy (if you opt out of our NO SHOPS policy), but if you're not interested, you will not get any pressure at all from us.

Other tour guides and sellers may be quite enthusiastic, thinking this is what you want, so don't be embarrassed to tell them directly and immediately that you don't want to go shopping. You'll often find several attendants trying to help you make a purchase. This doesn't mean you have to buy; it's OK to say no, or just to look around.

Outside tourist spots or on the road, there might be some vendors who follow you and try to sell you something. If you are not interested, just ignore them and keep going. See Avoiding Tourist Traps.

Be Cautious of Fake Items

Shopping is great in China and you can expect to be able to buy many things at a much better price that at home. Please however be warned that if a bargain price for a world famous brand seems too good to be true... it probably is!

Brand Names

At the same time, beware of famous brand items which are selling at a more reasonable price. Needless to say, sellers have caught on to the fact that a price set too low is suspicious, so some have taken to upping their prices accordingly.

Given that genuine designer goods tend to be more expensive in China than elsewhere, it is best to leave such purchases for your return home.

Antiques and Jade, etc.

Antique buyers should know that many experts have been disappointed to find that their find of a lifetime is beautiful but fake. Antiques should be officially certified to be exported legally. The penalties are severe. Keep all receipts, certificates and official documents that are received when you purchase any antiques. Antiques are those items over 120 years of age.

When buying jade, also be wary. Unless you are something of an expert, it is best not to trust high-ticket jade items.

Piracy

Please also be aware of piracy. This is so endemic in China that it is difficult to make official purchases of such items as DVDs and CDs. Consequently, these are to be avoided given that they will cause difficulties with customs upon your return home.

The same applies to computer software. Installation disks may be tempting if you have your laptop with you and decide to dispose of the disks themselves before returning home, but the fact a copy of Microsoft Windows, for example, is pirated will be detectable during the updating procedure, and may lead to reduced functionality. In addition to this, viruses are common on pirated